The various scratchings of a guy that meows at people and builds specailized electronics equipment.

2011-01-26

New Canada Server

I have recieved comments and emails asking about the Status of the NewCanada.dtrtech.com Minecraft server.

Due to a combination of real-world demands on our host's time and the stunning gap in support for the server modifications this server went off line unexpectedly for a prolonged period of time. And then after some debate whether to risk another firestorm and go without protection or have lag eat the server alive, the forum and all other web accessible content also disappeared.

I will not go over the details, except to say these two things.

I do not know when, or even if the server will return to online status.It has come back from worse, and even with a total restart I am certain that many players will return should it happen.

Great as the time we have invested in moving virtual blocks around has been, none of us expected to be able to show our grandkids our castles. What we have taken from New Canada is the experiences that we have shared;

The 200+ block wide crater that was old spawn, and the incorporation of moderators and modifications to stop this happening again

regular players banding together to build new spawn

the drama of the first mods going crazy from being thrust into a policing role

players banding together and building new territories beyond the far flung reaches of the map

the massive firefight that burned an area some 100K2 blocks

How quickly we recovered from that and the incorporation of a dozen mods, whose advarsarial personalities kept us in check

the bug in GriefAlert that allowed any player to bypass protection the way only a moderator should be able to, and the drama from that

our learning from that and codifying rules to keep things working

The huge influx of players during a time of relative stability tor wards the end of Alpha

These and the many other times we have come together and built something incredible that alone we could not have are what we have taken away from this.

Yes, as a moderator and an operator I was irate that the administrative and forensic tools could not be counted upon; however the strength of the community and that the server would be open to players is something I should not have taken for granted.I guess that was three things; two general, and one specific. meow.

About Meow.

I meow at people not becaue I think I am a cat, but because a conversation is an exchange of emmotional responses that is more intuitively conveyed by the tone of a voice than the nebulous context of words.